Davenport, Iowa -The Davenport Community School District has announced that the Four-Year-Old Program community partner organizations will host an information session and tour from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 21, 2011 at Children's Village West, 2826 West Locust Street, Davenport (across from the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds). Legislators, community partners, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce representatives, and members of the media are being invited to attend.
The session will begin with an overview of Iowa's statewide voluntary preschool program for four-year-old children which will include local, state and national data showing the impact of quality preschool education. Several brief presentations by community partner organizations will follow, concluding with a tour of the facilities and an opportunity to observe the program first-hand.
The Four-Year-Old Program provides more opportunities for all children aged four in the State of Iowa to attend a quality preschool and enter kindergarten ready to learn. The program in the Davenport Area Community School District alone impacts more than 800 students and includes over 20 partner sites.
A recent analysis of over 120 studies of students in preschool programs from over the last five decades showed these students made gains in both cognitive and social-emotional skills that persisted well beyond the early elementary years. "The Perry Preschool Project" clearly lays out the long term economic impact of these programs beyond school.
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